Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Lowered by Prossimo Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Prossimo Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft by 90.0% in Q3, selling 17,923 shares and leaving 1,981 shares worth about $1.026 million; Microsoft still represents 7.5% of the fund’s portfolio as its third-largest holding.
• Insider selling occurred recently: CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares and EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares (totaling roughly $7.63 million), and insiders now own about 0.03% of Microsoft stock.
• Analyst views are mixed with several firms cutting price targets (e.g., Bank of America to $520) but a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy and a $593.28 target, while shares opened down about 5.0% at $393.67.

Prossimo Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 90.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,981 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 17,923 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 7.5% of Prossimo Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Prossimo Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Redburn Partners set a $450.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC decreased their target price on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $593.28.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large AI demand validation — Microsoft is the anchor customer in multibillion-dollar infrastructure deals (e.g., IREN’s contracts tied to a $9.7B Microsoft AI cloud arrangement), signaling sustained enterprise demand for Azure/AI services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory / policy partnership — the UK is teaming with Microsoft to build deepfake-detection tools, reinforcing MSFT’s role in AI safety and government contracts (adds non-cyclical revenue and credibility). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate governance & talent moves — Microsoft hired a seasoned security leader from Google and shuffled internal cybersecurity leadership, which may reduce operational risk and reassure enterprise customers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning mixed — some asset managers (First Eagle, Manning & Napier) have increased MSFT stakes while others trimmed exposure; flows are ambiguous for near-term price action. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst targets & outlook vary — Daiwa trimmed its price target but kept a buy rating, and some firms reiterate Buy while trimming targets, producing mixed signals on fair value. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgrade triggered selling — Stifel cut MSFT to Hold, citing intensifying competition (Google, Anthropic) for AI services and rising AI-related costs for Microsoft, which hit sentiment hard. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings hangover — the stock plunged after Q2 as investors focused on AI capex, margin pressure and capacity limits in Azure despite revenue beats; the market is penalizing near-term execution risks. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Product adoption and competition concerns — reports flag slowing Copilot adoption and user frustration plus accelerating competition in cloud AI, raising doubts about how quickly Azure/AI monetization will scale. Read More.

Microsoft Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $393.67 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $470.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $496.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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